With Varsho's return on horizon, how will roster shift?

TORONTO -- It always felt like there were two key roster dates for the Blue Jays: Opening Day and the day Daulton Varsho returns.

The latter is fast approaching now. After Varsho and his wife, Brook, welcome their first child -- which could happen Wednesday -- he’ll begin a formal rehab assignment with Single-A Dunedin. From there, he’ll make a pit stop with Triple-A Buffalo, but given that he’s been facing live pitching for months now, Varsho shouldn’t need long.

Once the Blue Jays feel comfortable with Varsho’s throwing and deem it safe for him to slam into big league walls once again, this roster can reset in a sense. It’s just a matter of how many spots this will actually impact.

“I don’t think multiple, but definitely one,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Position, handedness, all of that stuff, it probably impacts one spot, not two.”

Let’s start narrow, then. Nathan Lukes, who just had a child and will rejoin the Blue Jays by Friday, owns a .518 OPS and has made a couple of baserunning errors recently, while Myles Straw, perhaps the surprise of the season, continues to shine. Straw is the Blue Jays’ preferred defender, too, and while few players on the planet can keep pace with Varsho, Straw would ensure there’s less dropoff as the Blue Jays ease Varsho back in.

That covers the simple part, but this still feels like a situation that could stretch beyond this.

The Blue Jays have six outfielders on the roster already, so if they’re going to continue carrying six, there needs to be a legitimate level of offensive upside coming from that group.

“We’ve got to start hitting some homers and start separating the score a little bit,” Schneider said earlier this week. “I’m confident that will happen, but overall, the approach has been good and the contact quality has been good, much better than where it was last year at this time.”

Consider Addison Barger, who was brought up when Lukes hit the paternity list and could have an opportunity to stick with the roster in a more permanent way, even if that requires him waiting for Varsho’s return and the potential reshuffling. While Barger’s numbers to start the season in Buffalo don’t exactly jump off the page, the Bisons have been dancing around terrible weather and it’s difficult to put much into those frigid at-bats.

Barger’s spring was fantastic, which the Blue Jays are still eyeing. He looked free at the plate and was taking more chances, which is what he needs to do to maximize his incredible physical gifts. There are some serious peaks and valleys to Barger’s offensive profile, but Schneider sees a young hitter who is learning to wrangle in his max-effort approach.

“He’s doing better, and I think he’s carried it over into the season, what he was doing in camp,” Schneider said. “Being around David Popkins, Lou Iannotti and Hunter Mense is beneficial for him. It’s kind of the never-ending battle, when you have all of that strength and athleticism, when to tone it down and when to not.”

How will Barger compare, then, to someone like Davis Schneider when Varsho returns? Schneider is off to a 1-for-15 (.067) start, and while the Blue Jays still love the upside he could offer as a lefty-masher, they need to see it soon. While Schneider offers some versatility with the ability to play second, Barger offers the same with third base in his back pocket, so there’s some overlap here.

Orelvis Martinez could eventually enter this conversation, too, if he starts hitting in Triple-A, but that hasn’t happened yet. Martinez’s defense is still a work in progress, to put it very generously, so he’ll need to hit his way back to the big leagues. Joey Loperfido is still in Triple-A as an option and Jonatan Clase is opening some eyes with a fantastic start to 2025 for the Bisons, but how would either fit in a part-time role that the Blue Jays don’t already have covered?

This all points back to Barger and Schneider. The Blue Jays know they’ll eventually have a dangerous top three when Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander click at the same time, but the bottom of this lineup is where they can win the matchups game, maybe even stealing a win or two along the way.

Once Varsho returns and center field belongs to one man again, that opens a few more doors for the Blue Jays.